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My pals kid that I take riding now and again is up for a new £700 HT. He's 5'0.5" and probably 7 stone.
He likes the Trek Marlin 7 but it's a Judy fork which appears to be OEM and I guess lighter springs unavailable, any ideas?
Also some of the bikes have slack HAs, might this be a concern for him to weight the front well enough at his size?
Saddle he might need a XS which only Trek/Giant do, difficult to find out with stock levels as they are.
Any other comments welcome...
Have a look at the Whyte bikes, which are kids, compact and adult sizes. We have the 405 for an 11yo and it’s a very good piece of kit for the money. The compromise will be the fork, maybe you can pick a cheap second hand one up if needed.
I’ve just built up a hardtail from frame / parts for my 14 year old nephew as very little in the way of decent bikes were in stock.He would have had a Vitus Nucleus Deore 1x10 model if it had been available which is just under £700. He is 5’11 already and size 11 shoe / just under 1/ stone though, so he’s got a bigger bike than me now!
You could get a small Brand X HT01 frame from CRC and they did have Rockshox Recon Golds for £185 which are a pretty decent air starter fork. My build cane in around £850 but I donated pedals / handlebar / bb to get to that price.
I had to build the wheels too as there wasn’t much about that would suit. He’s ended up with a 1x11 drivetrain though and 4 pot disc brakes so for the money I reckon it’s going to be great. Even with heavy wheels (xt rear hub / superstar V6 front / tubeless ready Alex Rims 23s / Sapim straight gauge spokes) it’s come in a smidge over 28lbs.
Totally depends on his experience and what you (plural) ride and to an extent plan to ride in the life of the bike.
My kid turned 11 last week and weighs about 10kg less.
His bike is a adult small. He had some 32mm Rev's on that worked fine (as a MOCO will) with 2.5wt oil instead of the 5wt...
We only swapped to Pikes because they were spare and he needed more travel than the 150mm on the Revs. He's run some extreme head angles (63 deg) running a mullet with a 26" rear and 27.5 front... but uses full 160mm travel easily. We're running SKF seals on both... which may or may not make a difference and the airshaft is a 1st gen Debonaire.
He also rides my XC HT (with cranks at appropriate length) with a Fox 32. Steep HA but again no issue using all the 100mm of travel.
Loads of saddle choice... my lad tried a Saracen youth branded one on his mates bike and fell in love. I got him one for a tenner brand new take off from someone who didn't like it but that's saddles for ya.
Cheers guys. It'll be on dad's cycle scheme so no build-up.
He just likes jumps etc at GT Buzzards Nest, and some close to home, as well as usual teenage messing about, who knows if he'll do more, he found pedalling to Spooky Wood a bit much, odd given he does extra training for his basketball.
Will look at Whytes.